After reports the CIA extracted one of its most valuable assets from Russia in 2017, the the Kremlin's spokesman downplayed the alleged spy as a non-senior official who was fired years ago. However, the alleged CIA asset held a “top group” civil service rank equal to a major general in the military.

Russian authorities have refused to let Paul Whelan have a single phone call with his family during his eight-month incarceration in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. Whelan’s mail correspondence with his family is censored and takes up to two months each way to arrive.

Robot FEDOR

Android Skybot F-850

“Admiring our Earth from the porthole of Soyuz-MS14 at the end of the working day. She is beautiful. Studying and exploring space makes people smarter and makes them work together. And we, machines made by humans, are ready to help our creators go further.”

Bulgaria suspended South Stream construction to bring the project into compliance with EU competition laws and energy regulations. But Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to cancel the pipeline instead, blaming Bulgaria and the EU for its demise.

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Twitter account

“In the early 90s the Baltic nations, after over 50 years of being a part of the #SovietUnion, gained their national independence. This event raised hopes and aspirations that the Baltic Soviet Republics would turn into modern democratic and rule-of-law states, which, unfortunately, never came true.”

Following their liberation from Soviet occupation, the Baltic states have transformed into democracies and been accepted into the European Union and NATO, among other international groups and alliances. By every metric available, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s claim that the Baltics failed is false.

The suspect in the murder investigation arrested by the court in Berlin demanded to talk with representatives of the Russian Embassy – a request that is highly unlikely to be made by Chechen separatists “hiding” from Russia in Europe.

Bulgaria abandoned plans to build its second nuclear power plant because of high costs, inability to attract a major Western investor, and Russia's unwillingness to share the financial risks of the project.

Sergei Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister

“In these circumstances, the Soviet Union had to go it alone to ensure its national security and sign a non-aggression pact with Germany. This forced move made it possible to better prepare for the coming war with the aggressor. Today, it is worth reminding everyone that our country made a decisive contribution to defeating the Hitler war machine and liberating Europe and the world from Nazism. Had the efforts been joined in the pre-war period, the many victims could have been avoided.”

Lavrov is partially correct about Anglo-French reluctance to enter into a collective security pact with the USSR, but he leaves out the extent of Moscow’s cooperation with Hitler and its increasing economic transactions with Nazi Germany after the signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement.

Russian Justice Ministry

“The European Court has recognized as manifestly unfounded the complaint about the arbitrary nature of Magnitsky’s deprivation of freedom, recognizing that his detention and incarceration fully complied with the established Convention requirements.”

The Russian Justice Ministry along with the state media misrepresented the European Court of Human Rights ruling shifting the focus from the key findings incriminating Russia to a the circumstances of Magnitsky’s arrest.